A Continuacion

Vilches:

On Monday morning we departed for Vilches, a campo town relatively nearby.  Vilches in pretty much in the foothills of the Andes, but we could still see the snowy peaks rising above the green hills.  Fortunately for me, Ted and Maruja's family is mainly vegetarian, so we got to enjoy lots of healthy dishes made from fresh vegetables.  

Our time with Ted and Maruja was, for me, a time of rest, discernment, and discovery.  We watched documentaries about La Vida Campesina (the life of people in the country - i.e. farmers) and Victor Jara, who was a folk singer brutally tortured and assassinated in the 1973 coup.  I was able to ask a million questions about the dictatorship, Chilean culture, life as a Maryknoll missioner, ecofeminist theology, gardening, alternative approaches to healing, etc.

I learned that big corporations came in and paid the poor and indigenous peoples who had worked the land for generations a small sum for their land.  The corporations ejected the people from their land, destroyed the native crops, and planted pine and cypress trees.  The pine trees, which are not native to the region, deplete the soil to the point that it takes over a hundred years to regenerate.  In a twisted irony, the very people who had worked that land before are now working for a pittance for those corporations, as there are no other opportunities.  Essentially, they are forced to contribute to the destruction of the land that used to be their heritage, the land that holds all of their memories and the memories of their ancestors, in order to survive.

The community in Vilches is connected to communities in Santiago and to our community at the Casa Ursulina, and all together there is a great emphasis on the exploration of ecofeminism and different approaches to healing and building community.  After talking with Maruja, Andrea and I determined that one of our projects at the Casa will be to work in the little greenhouse we have here. The greenhouse has kind of fallen into a state of disrepair, but we have plans to plant vegetables and herbs that we can eat at the Casa.  We had been thinking about doing that anyways, but after my time in Vilches I feel even more inspired to  carry that out, as I'm thinking about ecospirituality and ecofeminism.  I'm reminded of how important it is to me to be in tune with these cycles and rhythms of life, and how I felt in Nicaragua on the island of Ometepe.  

I believe that the sacred nature and heritage of women has been buried and erased over the years in so many ways.  I know that I carry that sacred history and heritage within me, and it's something that I've always wanted to access and explore more.  Maybe here in Chile I will learn how I can live my life in that pattern, in communion with the earth and the connectedness of all living beings.  I would like to find ways of connecting with that divine nature and energy, and I have so many ways right at my fingertips here!  Rhythm, art, dance, planting, harvesting, cooking, natural healing, energy work, etc.  There is such mystery and miracle in all of this, and I want to be a part of that.  I want to find what is inside myself and bring it into the light.

In talking with Maruja about my desire to delve deeper into the sacred and divine feminine, she told me that the Vilches community offers a workshop of the four feminine archetypes, and part of what they do is look at the divine feminine throughout histories and cultures and myths.  This sounds SO exciting and perfect!  

We met with the other Maryknoll missioners on our last morning in Vilches, and I was struck again at what a great opportunity it is for me to be here.  They are starting a women's center there that will be a retreat space for women who are suffering from different forms of violence and abuse.  Sarah, one of the missioners, wants to start some art therapy there.  Judy, another missioner, is very active in learning more about the divine feminine and uncovering women's lost history.  Talking with them was such a great meeting of our passions!  It was so inspiring and rejuvenating to have some of my strongest beliefs and goals recognized and reciprocated.  We all plan on staying in touch so that we can collaborate throughout the year.

In Vilches we took advantage of the nice weather and amazing location.  We walked down to a beautiful river in the middle of the foothills and saw the adjacent campground.  If anyone wants to come down to Chile and go camping, let me know!  There we saw the lovely spiders that are in my other blog:)

We also hiked up into the mountains, passing through budding trees, appreciating the signs of spring all around us.  We saw these gigantic woodpeckers - they are the size of crows and pure black except for their heads, which are a brilliant scarlet red.  We also saw a young eagle soaring and swallows darting through the air.  Sitting in front of all this majesty, we discussed culture shock, our lives, our backgrounds.  

During one dinner we talked about what Chile was like during the dictatorship.  I asked how it would compare to Nicaragua, since I'm more familiar with that, and they made the point that there was never any armed resistance in Chile - there was only one power, and more than anything it was a psychological war.  Maruja remembers peeking out the curtain after curfew and seeing long lines of military trucks pass by filled with people - soon to be the disappeared.  After hearing her and Ted talk, it's not surprising that people don't really discuss those times.  With Pinochet dead only recently, people have still been wary of sharing their feelings and experiences.  I wonder what will come to light about those years as people become more comfortable opening up.